In a data center environment, relocating a rack of equipment traditionally requires almost all of the servers, switches, and other pieces of racked gear to be removed from the rack prior to moving the rack. An equipment rack is typically sized at approximately 19 inches wide, approximately 30 inches from front to back, and may have a variable height, but is typically approximately 72 to 84 inches in height. The equipment rack has channels, conduits and connections for power, cooling, and data communications such that electronic equipment may be inserted into slots in the rack and powered and cooled through the use of the rack services. Removing equipment from the rack prior to moving the rack reduces the weight, thus permitting the rack to be readily relocated. The rack is then moved either by attempting to manually move it across the floor, or by using a hand truck (dolly) to move the rack. Moving the rack using a hand truck or dolly requires the rack to be inclined at some angle to the floor, moving the rack out of perpendicular orientation with the floor. Relocating datacenter equipment that is not installed within a rack but is nevertheless large and heavy presents issues similar to the relocation of a loaded equipment rack.
Moving a rack while it is still fully loaded has some advantages. Chief among these advantages is the fact that moving a loaded rack saves the time required to disconnect and reconnect all of the pieces of equipment that are installed in the rack from the power and data connections of rack services, which can be quite tedious. Moving a rack when fully loaded also removes much of the risk of cabling errors that may occur when the network data, communication, and power cables are reconnected to the devices installed in the rack.
Moving a fully loaded rack or large and heavy items of datacenter equipment also presents some major challenges. Chief among the challenges is that a fully loaded rack is extremely heavy, in the range of approximately 2000-3000 pounds. Moving the fully loaded rack and large and heavy equipment using some methods presents risks of equipment damage, damage to the rack, and personnel injury. Attempting to push a loaded rack or heave equipment item to move it presents a risk of the equipment or rack tipping over. Moving a loaded rack with a hand truck reduces some of these risks, but typically racks, and the equipment they house, and large, heavy equipment items are not designed to be moved from a perpendicular orientation with respect to the floor and damage may result. There is also the risk of the rack or other equipment tipping when attempting to restore the rack or other equipment to an upright, perpendicular orientation with respect to the floor.